Adobe India Hackathon Connected Dots & Became Largest AI/ML Hackathon

Adobe, a global leader in digital experiences, partnered with Unstop to host the Adobe India Hackathon 2025. A massive, multi-stage coding challenge designed to engage with the developer community and together drive innovation in Document Cloud Intelligence. The hackathon leveraged Unstop's 25Mn+ strong talent community and campus network, resulting in an unprecedented reach of 2,62,132 registrations across over 10,946 campuses, successfully building a pre-vetted pipeline of Top 50 performers eligible for Pre-Placement Interviews (PPIs).

The Adobe Ambition: Engage With Developer Community at Scale

Adobe’s team wanted to engage the new generation of engineers and developers who had an interest and specialized skills in advanced algorithms, semantic linking, and intelligent document processing. The traditional approach of tapping into each campus and community individually would often lead to a struggle in scaling the search while maintaining a high bar for innovation. Adobe needed a solution that could:

1. Engagement at Scale: Simultaneously engage students from thousands of engineering colleges across India.
2. Filter Rigorously: Move beyond resume screening to evaluate actual coding skills and complex problem-solving abilities. Students who engaged with this hackathon were required to leverage ML concepts to create viable solutions for the Adobe document cloud team. This skill-based, innovation-forward thinking and engagement was the primary objective.
3. Identify Niche Talent: Directly test candidates on the specific technical challenges relevant to Adobe's "Rethink Reading" vision for document intelligence.

The goal was clear: engage with students/ developers at scale, test their technical, coding, and ML knowledge base to drive innovation. But this hackathon delivered more than that. Something with the primary goal of problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking also led to the creation of a reliable, high-volume, and high-quality talent funnel for their internship and full-time hiring needs.

The case set in motion (a call to talent):

“Rethink Reading. Rediscover Knowledge 

What if every time you opened a PDF, it didn’t just sit there - it spoke to you, connected ideas, and narrated meaning across your entire library? 

That’s the future we’re building, and we want you to help shape it.”

The Blueprint: Designing a Multi-Stage Hackathon on Unstop

Unstop provided a secure, scalable, and customizable platform necessary to transform Adobe's engagement and innovation ambitions into the largest AI/ML hackathon the nation has ever seen.

The Execution: A Rigorous Filtration Process

The four-round structure served as Adobe’s precise filter, narrowing the pool to zero in on the top innovators:

1. Round 1: Online MCQ Assessment + Coding: A mandatory initial screening requiring all team members to prove fundamental Algorithms and Data Structures (DSA) knowledge.
2. Round 2: Build and Connect Round: Shortlisted teams tackled the core challenge: building the foundational/ core system that powers intelligent document understanding and semantic linking.
3. Round 3: Experience and Insight Prototype: Teams had to bring their technical solution to life by developing a functional web-based prototype. The requirement was that the interface enable users to explore documents, discover related content, and generate contextual insights.
4. Round 4: Grand Finale: The top-qualifying teams presented their innovative solutions directly to Adobe leadership at the company's Noida headquarters, demonstrating communication and presentation skills alongside technical prowess.

The structured approach to engagement and problem-solving through a multi-stage hackathon was a strategy for the win. We began with basic skill testing through quizzes and coding rounds, moved to ideation with brainstorming and prototyping, and finally moved to the application.

Unstop’s Hackathon Platform Delivered More Than Scalability

• 13.88 Million Impressions: Unmatched visibility for the Adobe employer brand across the technical student community.
• Seamless Team Management: The platform supported teams of 2-3 members, allowing cross-specialization and cross-year collaboration, mirroring a real-world engineering environment.
• Secure Online Assessments: Online proctored quizzes and coding assessments, custom-created from a large question bank, ensured that initial participant screening was done according to organisational needs.
• Standardized Evaluation: Automated coding assessments and project submission modules ensured fair, objective scoring across all participants.

The Metrics That Matter: Unprecedented Reach Meets Proven Quality

The Adobe India Hackathon delivered exceptional returns on reach, quality, and talent pipeline efficiency, setting a new benchmark for technical recruiting in India.

The Ultimate Goal Achieved

Engagement at Scale, Innovation, Zeroing in on the Top 1% of Tech Talent while Building a Pipeline for the Future

The Adobe India Hackathon proved that when combined with a powerful, scalable platform, a structured hackathon can be the most effective strategy for engagement at scale and to drive innovation in solving real-world business problems. By transforming the engagement and innovation process into a national innovation challenge, Adobe not only discovered talent that excels on paper but also talent that excels in application.

Unstop remains committed to supporting Adobe's engagement strategy, building upon this foundation of unprecedented scale and measurable results to ensure they continue to connect with the top minds shaping the future of technology.

Unstop and Adobe scripted a new language of innovation & talent sourcing success. If you're looking to revolutionize your hiring and branding strategies at scale, reach out to sales@unstop.com.